In general, chips or modules that are packaged in electronic systems are gradually being made more highly integrated and miniaturized due to advances in semiconductor fabrication technology. Because the thermal density of components included in electronic systems is greatly increasing due to such trends, cooling techniques are required to effectively dissipate heat. In particular, improving the contact interfaces between components which induce most of the thermal resistance in heat dissipating paths is an important issue for research.
Related art cooling devices that can be applied to miniature portable and stationary electronic systems include heat sinks, fans, and miniature heat pipes having a circular cross sectional diameter of 3 mm or greater.
Because heat sinks may be fabricated freely in terms of size and width, heat sinks have been widely used as a basic cooling means. However, when a very small size is required, the heat dissipation rate becomes relatively less due to the reduction in the heat dissipating area.
With a fan, there is a limit to how much the size thereof can be reduced, and there is the problem in which the reliability thereof is relatively reduced.
A miniature heat pipe with a circular cross sectional diameter of 3 mm or greater may be suitably compressed and used on a thin film structure. However, because a miniature heat pipe with such a circular cross sectional diameter is designed with an initially circular cross section, when the heat pipe is compressed to fit electronic equipment with a miniature and thin film structure, heat dissipating performance is greatly reduced by a change in wick structure.